Arm balancing fun!

What I love about yoga (one of the many things, of course) is that you can never quite 'master' it, no matter how long or how often you practise, you will always have room to grow.

Today I went to the Yoga Centre Winnipeg, the city's original yoga studio has been around for over 25 years and offers a variety of different styles of yoga to suit anyone's taste. I went to Darlene's Intermediate Flow class. I have met Darlene through working at lululemon

(she is one of the very inspiring ambassadors for the Polo Park store.) I told her that I was coming to her class this week and she asked me if I had any requests. I answered, "arm balances."

Through my years of being a fan of vinyasa flow yoga, I have discovered a love for arm balances: the combined challenge of the postures with the payoff of taking flight. So great!

Side crow is definitely my favourite, but when she asked if I had any in specific, I made the mistake of saying, "whichever one you want!"

As the class went on, I couldn't help but notice the lack of arm balances: had Darlene forgotten about me? With all these postures like dolphin and sphinx, I wasn't sure where she was headed with this Sunday morning practice.

And then all it all made sense when she sprung Pincha on us. The class growned and Darlene told everyone that I specifically had requested the incredibly difficult, inverted forearm balancing posture. I felt foolish as I had indeed requested an arm balance, but Pincha isn't normally explored within the confines of the hot yoga rooms that I have grown my practice in, and I actually had never even tried it.

Just like the first time I tried side plank, crow, half moon or side crow... My first attempt at Pincha was an epic failure, but a good reminder of how much room there is in my practice still to grow and now I have a new yoga goal to strive towards...

I will be able to get into Pincha by January 1st, 2012. You saw it here first. Stay posted for photos!

The scariest place of all...

I have been practicing yoga for six years, having tried a variety of styles taught by a tons of different teachers, in different languages around the world. Today I took my practice to the scariest place yet: my living room.

I set my mat up in the middle of my living room. Abbey, our Golden Retriever gave me a puzzled look. With no teachers to guide me or encourage me to keep me going, I followed a simple vinyasa (flow) sequence from one of my favourite yoga books.

At first I tried to hold the postures and count to ensure I stayed in them as long as I was supposed to, but this felt unnatural. Sort of like running on a treadmill staring at the seconds, willing them to go faster. So rather than counting seconds, I started counting breaths.

Things started to flow... I found that I need not even refer to the sequence I had set out in front of me, somehow my body simply knew which posture came next.

The thing that I had been most afraid of, having no one there, was what turned this practice into something much more spiritual and internal. I felt as though it was a true moving-meditation, something I haven't felt in my practice for quite some time.

It was beautiful. I lay in final savasana feeling an incredible blissful energy from the top of my head right down to the tips of my toes. My savasana ended when Abbey licked my face and I started to giggle uncontrollably.

The best part? I was already home when my practise ended. Not only that, now I know that I can indeed practise in the comfort of my living room when I don't have the time to make it to a studio. This makes having a daily yoga practise more attainable in our busy lives.

If you are looking to start a home practise, here is a great website to get you started with some basic sequences you can work on.

Namaste.

Create + Direct = Yogi Love

Things are coming along quite nicely with the creation of the of Winnipeg's only yoga & lifestyle magazine, Prairie Yogi. The magazine's premiere issue hits stands in just seven short weeks! :)

Throughout the process I have assumed the role of director for the magazine: generating story ideas; organizing writers; selling ad space and working on setting up the website, prairieyogi.com.

On the creative end, I have contributed some writing, photography and design. But this past weekend, for the first time, I had the opportunity to but those wonderful things together as creative director for photo shoots for the magazine.

Having a birds eye view of the entire shoot, without having to worry about the light or exposure was a real treat! Directing the shoot and making sure everything was just right gave me butterflies. I've found what I want to do with my life. What a cool feeling!

Here's a sneak peek from one of the shoots at Peg City Yoga.

Kudos to an amazing photographer and a great model who made my job easy!

So looking forward to seeing the photos and laying out what is sure to be a beautiful publication!

Peace. Love. Namaste.

Taylor

Always do your best. Pre Natal Yoga @ Moksha Donald

It took me 4 months to do it but I finally made time for myself to check out the prenatal yoga classes offered through Moksha Yoga at the Donald location. You would often associate the Moksha series with hot yoga and at first I thought to myself, "hot yoga? for pregnant people? Is that safe?". Well, that's another subject altogether that I would recommend talking to your doctor about however many Winnipeggers don't realize that Moksha Donald offers a couple non-hot classes in their upstairs studio such as Flow II and Prenatal Yoga.

I arrived at the studio nearly an hour early so I sat down on one of the couches to read my Girlfriends Guide to Prengancy and soon after all the other ladies with baby bumps started filtering in. This is my first pregnancy and it didn't take me long to realize that there is a special bond between women who are pregnant at the same time as you. Within 5 minutes you know eachothers due date, potential gender of the baby, how bad you had morning sickeness, how much it sucks to pee every twenty minutes and your entire birthing plan. Already I was happy I went to the class and hadn't even made it up to the studio yet.

Once the Flow II class ended and all the floor banging from falling out of handstands stopped, nine women laid out their mats, grabbed their bolsters and blocks and waited for the lovely Nena to start class. Before I knew Nena was our instructor I thought the class would be very relaxing and full of non-weight bearing stretches much like a hatha class but with Nena I always expect a good workout and lots of hip openers which is exactly what we got.

The class started with a set intention (as usual) of "always do your best, no matter what situation you are in or how you are feeling. Your best may differ from day to day however if you always strive for your best then there is no room in your day for regret or discontent" (I am positive Nena said that way more beautfully and clearly but I think that was the point!) After starting out with some cat and cow, we moved right into a series of warrior poses, some hip openers that I had never done before and finishing with some light core work and seated stretching. We even did half moon pose which I fell out of several times, but that's nothing unusual. It didn't feel like a "specialty" class other than the fact you have to modify poses to make room for baby belly and Nena demonstrated and corrected when required.

After class I felt great despite realizing how extremely tight my hamstrings and hip flexors are but that just means I will be back next week to do it all again. The next morning I woke up with slight tenderness in my shoulders and hamstrings but nothing too uncomfortable and this morning I actually rolled out my mat outside on my balcony and committed to 20 sun salutations and a warrior flow series (after my coffee and apple turnover of course) and I can't wait until Wednesday to see my new friends and work through another challenging yet peaceful class.

Moksha Donald offers Prenatal Yoga Monday and Wednesday nights 630-730 upstairs in a room-temperature studio with a bathroom directly beside it. There is no need to call ahead or pre-register however I would recommend coming 15 minutes early to meet and chat with the other mothers-to-be as I believe connecting with others who are going through the same thing as you are is just as valueable as the yoga practice itself!

Written for Prairie Yogi Magazine by Kristen Locke.

Monday Morning Rise & Shine Special

In an attempt to start the week off right, I took a 6:30am Rise & Shine yoga class with Nancy at Peg City Yoga this fine Monday morning. It was a great practice, starting off slow and finishing with an energizing full wheel to carry with me throughout my day.

Although Nancy didn't state an intention for the class, her intention was clear: build stability to experience freedom. What a beautiful concept!

She of course was using it in the context of standing postures within a yoga class, to build stability in your legs to experience freedom and "flight" in your upper body, but it got me thinking about life, as so often a great yogic intention does.

As a full-time student, the concept of "freedom" lives in a land far far away. There are just so many responsibilities, deadlines, and sacrifices made to give way establishing the stability of higher education.

The higher education that one day will lead to freedom: a career in which I can be creative and be my own boss. A foundation well worth building, I think. Thanks Nancy! :)

Trying Something New

Yogis can get pretty attached to their favourite teachers. We appreciate their personal yoga style that emulates through their teaching, they know what we are capable of in class and they'll encourage you to go deeper or hold back where necessary. Sometimes they even throw your favourite song onto their play list because they know it will make you smile! :)

My favourite teacher, Clancy, from Moksha Yoga Winnipeg has recently moved further west for a change of scenery. After her incredible final class, (we sang "Colours of the Wind" while holding bridge pose!) I felt unmotivated to find my way onto the mat, afraid to give a new teacher an opportunity, I was being stubborn and not open to new inspiration.

Everytime I neglet my body and lose my yoga practice, I falter a little: my focus shifts to the trivial, I stop caring about what I eat, and I get lazy. Unhappiness ensues.

This weekend, two whole weeks after the Pocahontas sing-a-long class, I reunited with the mat for a 60minute Moksha Flow class taught by a new teacher at Moksha Waverly.

Jordan is a young, energetic instructor with a great presence. He shared a personal story with us to begin the class, using it to set an intention for the class. The intention was lila, a sanskrit word meaning 'devine play'.

Lila is my favourite yoga word! The new kid is off to a good start....

His style was much more yin than the power yoga I am used to, but it was a great class and I'm so glad I tried something new. Jordan showed me how subtle changes within a posture, like pressing down through the big toe of your standing leg in balancing postures, can change a posture that you once thought you had mastered. This little variation created a beautiful stretch in the outer hip flexor that I am still feeling today.

My favourite teacher is gone, leaving an opening for a new inspiration. I will use this blog to find it. I will search the city far and wide, trying classes of all styles, meeting teachers of all ages and backgrounds in search of a new yogi inspiration. Minimum one class a week. No faltering, no getting off track.

Stay tuned to find out what happens to this Prairie Yogi.

Peace. Love. Namaste.

What is a Yogi??

What is a yogi, exactly?

Yogi according to Wikipedia:

(Sanskrit: masc yogī, योगी ; fem yoginī) originally referred in the Classical Sanskrit of thePuranas specifically to a male practitioner of Yoga. In the same literature yoginī is the term used for female practitioners as well as divine goddesses and enlightened mothers, all revered as aspects of the Divine Mother Devi, without whom there would be no yogis. The two terms are still used today but the word Yogi is also generically used to refer to both male and female practitioners of yoga and related meditative practices in Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism etc.

Prairie Yogi Magazine is a brand new yoga and lifestyle magazine coming to Winnipeg! Our goal is to educate and inspire yogis and yoginis across the prairies, bringing our community together.

Prairie Yogi Magazine will be available December 2011 at yoga studios in Winnipeg, and will feature written and photographic contributions from talented yogis in the community.

On this blog you will find information, reviews of yoga studios in the city, lifestyle tips, recipes, and inspiration to find your way onto your mat.

To start off this wonderful space on the world wide web, giving some love with MC Yogi seems appropriate.